Mary Teresa Norton

Mary Norton
Mary Norton
Chair of the House Administration Committee
	In office; January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1951
Preceded by	Karl LeCompte
Succeeded by	Thomas Stanley
Member of the; U.S. House of Representatives; from New Jersey
	In office; March 4, 1925 – January 3, 1951
Preceded by	Charles O'Brien
Succeeded by	Alfred Sieminski
Constituency	12th district (1925–33); 13th district (1933–51)
Personal details
Born	March 7, 1875; Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	August 2, 1959 (aged 84); Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Robert Norton
Education	Packard Business College

Mary Teresa Norton (March 7, 1875 – August 2, 1959) was an American Democratic Party politician who represented Jersey City and Bayonne in the United States House of Representatives from 1925 to 1951.

She was the first woman member of the Democratic Party elected to Congress and the first woman elected to represent New Jersey, or any state in the Northeast. She chaired four House committees during her tenure and was a labor advocate and a supporter of women's rights.

Early life and education

She was born as Mary Teresa Hopkins in Jersey City, New Jersey. She attended parochial schools and Jersey City High School (since renamed William L. Dickinson High School) and graduated from Packard Business College, New York City in 1896. She married Robert Francis Norton in 1909.

Early career

Norton was president of the Queen's Daughters' Day Nursery Association of Jersey City from 1916 to 1927. She was appointed to represent Hudson County on the New Jersey Democratic State Committee in 1920. She was elected a member of that committee in 1921, and served as vice chairperson from 1921 to 1931. She chaired the state committee from 1932 to 1935 and again from 1940 to 1944.[1][2] She also served as vice chairman of the Hudson County Democratic Committee.

She was elected to the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders in 1922, and was a delegate at large to the Democratic National Conventions in 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, and 1948. She was a delegate to the International Labor Conference at Paris, France in 1945.

Congress

Norton was elected as a Democrat to the 69th, 70th, 71st, 72nd, 73rd, 74th, 75th, 76th, 77th, 78th, 79th, 80th, 81st United States Congresses, serving from March 4, 1925 to January 3, 1951. She originally represented New Jersey's 12th congressional district, then composed of Jersey City and Bayonne. Later, she represented the 13th district due to reapportionment.

Committees

Norton was the chairperson of the Committee on the District of Columbia (during the 72nd to 75th Congresses), the Committee on Labor (75th to 79th Congresses), the Committee on Memorials (77th Congress), and the Committee on House Administration (81st Congress). She helped pass the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, working with Clara Mortenson Beyer, Frances Perkins, and Mary La Dame as part of what was colloquially called the "Ladies' Brain Trust."[3]

Norton was not a candidate for renomination in 1950. She became a "Womanpower Consultant" for the Women's Advisory Committee on Defense Manpower, in the United States Department of Labor from 1951 to 1952.

Death

Norton died on August 2, 1959, in Greenwich, Connecticut, aged 84.[4] She was interred in the Holy Name Cemetery, Jersey City. Her memoir Madame Congressman was never published.

References

"W.H. Kelly Elected Chairman of Jersey Democratic Group; Succeeds Mrs. Norton", The New York Times, January 23, 1935. Accessed June 10, 2008.
"Representative Hart Elected to Succeed Mrs. Norton", The New York Times, August 18, 1944. Accessed June 10, 2008.
The Living New Deal Archives. Clara Beyer (c. 1892-1990).
"Mary Norton, House Member 26 Years, Dies". Chicago Tribune. August 3, 1959. Mrs. Mary T. Norton, 84, the first woman Democrat in Congress, died of a heart attack Sunday.

External links

United States Congress. "Mary Teresa Norton (id: N000153)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Mary T. Norton at Women in Congress

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Charles O'Brien	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 12th congressional district 1925–1933	Succeeded by Frederick Lehlbach
Preceded by Frederick Zihlman	Chairperson of the House District of Columbia Committee 1931–1933	Succeeded by Jennings Randolph
New constituency	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 13th congressional district 1933–1951	Succeeded by Alfred Sieminski
Preceded by William Connery	Chairperson of the House Labor Committee 1937–1947	Succeeded by Fred Hartley
Preceded by Alfred Bulwinkle	Chairperson of the House Memorials Committee 1941–1943	Succeeded by John Murdock
Preceded by Karl Le Compte	Chairperson of the House Administration Committee 1949–1951	Succeeded by Thomas Stanley
	Chairperson of the Joint Library Committee 1949–1951
	Chairperson of the Joint Printing Committee 1949–1951
Party political offices
Preceded by Harry Heher	Chairperson of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee 1932–1935	Succeeded by William Kelly
Preceded by Crawford Jamieson	Chairperson of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee 1940–1944	Succeeded by Edward Hart

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "W.H. Kelly Elected Chairman of Jersey Democratic Group; Succeeds Mrs. Norton", The New York Times, January 23, 1935. Accessed June 10, 2008.

[2] "Representative Hart Elected to Succeed Mrs. Norton", The New York Times, August 18, 1944. Accessed June 10, 2008.

[LND-3] The Living New Deal Archives. Clara Beyer (c. 1892-1990).

[4] "Mary Norton, House Member 26 Years, Dies". Chicago Tribune. August 3, 1959. Mrs. Mary T. Norton, 84, the first woman Democrat in Congress, died of a heart attack Sunday.

Chairs of the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce
Education and Labor (1867–1883)	Baker Cary Arnell Perce Monroe Walker Goode Updegraff Sherwin
Education (1883–1947)	Aiken Candler O'Donnell Hayes Brunner Enloe Grow Southwick Burke Lever Hughes Sears Fess Dallinger Reed Douglass Palmisano Larrabee Barden
Labor (1883–1947)	Hopkins O'Neill Wade Tarsney McGann Phillips Gardner Wilson Lewis Maher Smith Nolan Zihlman Kopp Welch Connery Norton
Education and Labor* (1947–)	Hartley Lesinski Barden McConnell Barden Powell Perkins Hawkins Ford Goodling Boehner McKeon Miller Kline Foxx Scott
Note	^* Alternately named Economic and Educational Opportunities in 104th Congress and Education and the Workforce in 105th through 109th and 112th through 115th Congresses.